UPPER MERION >> David De Notaris reached for his iPhone and tapped his finger onto an app, which responded by talking to him.

Although he could not see the app, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry Office of Vocational Rehabilitation could engage the technology just like someone without a visual disability could.

When a condition called retinitis pigmentosa caused De Notaris to lose his sight at age 19, he quickly learned to adapt to his disability long before it played a role in his career choice.

“One of the things that we use to level the playing field is technology. I have a regular iPhone and whatever I touch on my phone, it’s going to speak to me, so people with disabilities can access the same information as their classmates, neighbors or peers and they can get the same education, training, and of course, the same jobs,” said De Notaris, who joined folks from related government agencies, employers and people with intellectual, emotional and physical disabilities on Wednesday for the opening of the sixth Pennsylvania Disability Employment and Empowerment Summit (PADES) at Valley Forge Casino Resort’s event center in King of Prussia.

The two-day event, which was expected to draw upwards of 600 people, included a job fair with more than 30 employers such as CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens Pharmacy and Crayola manning information tables.

“We’re the lead agency for employment for people with disabilities in Pennsylvania and we believe that people with disabilities are the most untapped talent pool for employers. Last year we helped 8,500 people with disabilities find work,” De Notaris noted.

“Our clients are people with disabilities and the employers of Pennsylvania. We want to provide employers with the best talent so they don’t have to go somewhere else. We’re an integral part of the economic engine of Pennsylvania. Statistics say that 20 percent of Americans have some type of disabling condition and we need to help people focus on their abilities, not their disabilities. We need to help people recognize and believe that people with disabilities can be tax payers and not tax users. And that’s what we’re about, helping people with disabilities. We’re very blessed with federal and state dollars and we put them together to leverage our resources to help people with disabilities get work. That’s our focus.

“This event,” he added, “ is another platform for us to stretch people’s imaginations. We’re here today to help stretch the imaginations of the students, their parents and the teachers and we’re going to introduce them to as many successfully employed adults as we can to send them a powerful message: if I can do it, you can do it.”

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act allowed the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation to invest $20 million in one year to help high school students obtain jobs, DeNovartis said, adding that studies show that high school students with disabilities who work summer jobs are far more likely to find employment after graduation.

More than 400 high school students from the Valley Forge region were reported to have registered for Thursday’s event.

Jerry Oleksiak, Acting Secretary for the Department of Labor & Industry, recalled how his years teaching middle school special education for the Upper Merion School District prepared him in some unexpected ways for his current job.

“What I saw were the amazing abilities, not disabilities, of the kids, and it’s exciting being in the position I am in now to see opportunities like this, not just for high school kids but everyone across the Commonwealth,” he said. “As a department we are very excited about bringing all these people together who have the same goal in mind — jobs that are competitive and integrative for people with disabilities. We’ve been very excited about working with the business community and businesses like CVS.”

Oleksiak explained that the drug store chain had set up a mock pharmacy for training purposes at the Hiram G. Andrews Center in Johnstown.

“It’s created to train folks for the jobs needed in running a store, including pharmacy tech,” he said, adding that the Wolf administration has made competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities a high priority.

“This event is an indication of the commitment that the commonwealth has in helping people with disabilities obtain employment. The commonwealth was recently cited as one of the best, if not the best, states for hiring people with disabilities. The governor himself is very committed to this initiative in creating opportunities that may not have been there before, in having cabinet level folks working together in building these opportunities. It really is a commitment from the top of state government.”

The summit provided a unique opportunity for attendees with different perspectives to come together and speak the same language, as it were, noted Devon Grant, executive director of the Governor’s Cabinet and Advisory Committee for people with disabilities.

“People in the business world don’t speak the same language as people in the human services world. A lot of people trying to support people with disabilities don’t know how to reach out to the businesses community, and this gives them that opportunity to learn from each other,” he said.

“There are events for businesses, and there are human services doing events for people with disabilities, but to bring them all together quite like this in one event I don’t think has been done before.”

Karen Gross, spokesperson for marketing firm Suasion, which helped organize the event, said that PADES was far more than a path to filling jobs for people with disabilities.

“It’s about making sure people with disabilities achieve competitive, integrative employment and trying to fit them into a career,” she noted. “And I think employers are beginning to see that when you bring in people with different perspectives it expands the perspective of the employer. Employers are finding it very beneficial. They’re also learning to communicate with a consumer base that could be people with disabilities. Hiring people with disabilities makes your company more well-rounded and enhances the business model. For this event, it makes good business sense to bring everyone together, the employers and those at the state level that can work with employers and people with disabilities and provide the guidance needed to make that connection in hiring people with disabilities.”

Easton-based Crayola has been building a strong reputation as a business that is keen on hiring folks with disabilities, noted the company’s talent acquisition manager Stephanie Yachim.

“This event is an opportunity for job seekers, employers and the agencies to get together, and for us it’s important to be out there making that connection whenever we can and constantly tapping into that talent for additional people with disabilities wherever we can,” Yachim said. “Crayola truly benefits from having a diverse workforce, including employees with disabilities who provide their unique talents and help us meet our everyday business goals.”